When you first enter the desert to live you are aware mostly by word of mouth of the
animals and reptiles which live there. Some of what you are told
is pure fiction about the ferocity of these desert denizens. Some is true
but it is hard to pick the truth from the fiction. It isn't until you've
been there a while and experienced some of these critters face to face that you
begin to make some sense of the whole thing and pick the truth from the fairy
tale.

A few of these creatures are poisonous and deadly, others are very meek and mild but
all are necessary to the balance of nature in the desert.
Awareness of the habits and lifestyles of these denizens of the desert is your
best protection while exploring the various rock outcroppings, mountains, mines,
and playplaces which exist.

If your adventurous, like to explore, and experience nature you will soon run into
many of these inhabitants and become familiar with some of the patterns of their
existence. It is at this time that you begin to feel comfortable in their
world. There is less apprehension and more excitement at the discoveries
you make.

Thankfully most of the 'bad' denizens are not aggressive and will warn you if they
are approached or surprised at your appearance in their world. These occurences
are rare and should be relished, for not everyone experiences them.

There's a website that describes the way that some
animals and reptiles survive on the desert. HERE

This area is for your personal experiences with the many different animals you have
experienced in your time living and exploring the High Desert country we called
home.

Our hope is that you will submit your serious, humorous and
scary encounters with our furry, slithery, and scrabbling friends.

You
know you've had them, those times when your walking along and all of a sudden
hear a sound which makes the blood leave your head and the chills run up and
down your spine!! Then your confronted with the internalized shot of adrenalin
which says "run or fight"!!!

That's what we want to put
here along with the really funny almost serio-comic encounters which happen
all too frequently.

I am sending a few pictures of a coyote on the base. He was close to McDonalds
and we kind of watched out for him. He was in no hurry and as you can see
in one photo he is yawning. Bored with the whole thing. Take care.

Tom
& LeeStrickland

Here I am strolling by looking for a handout. Just another day in the life
of a busy coyote.

Oh Look!! A human with a camera!! I'll just sit here and show my best
side for a potrait and give him a thrill!!

That was sure boring (Yaawwwnnnn) and not even a hand out. Whats this world
coming to??!!

A few years ago, during the winter when the sheep were grazing
the alfalfa fields, there was the coyote that visited our property. I
only suspected it at first, because one by one, between sunset and sunrise
the next day, one of my cats would disappear and Hondo would wake us up several
times a night raising alarms.

The sheep farmers could be heard firing
off rifles in the night and early morning hours as well. And I had
seen an inordinate number of hungry coyotes that year. I knew that rabbit
numbers were down and I assumed they were hunting people's domestic animals and
being a nuisance to the sheepherders. That was also the year of the mountain
lion plague as well bobcats. It was a drought year and I think many
predators came down from the mountains because the food was scarce.

One
morning I was awake very early. Just before sunrise. Hondo had
been barking earlier and I was on the prowl a bit because my cats had been whiddled
down from 22 to only 9. In addition, David had run off a bobcat trying
to tear open the wire on the chicken coop one night, again alerted by Hondo.
Hondo had a very busy winter that year. So as a result, we had a
.22 rifle sitting by the front door and that morning as I went to the door, I grabbed
up the rifle.

I opened the door in time to step out on the front
porch, rifle in hand, as a coyote crossed the driveway to the right of the
house. He was very close. I stopped and stood there. He was walking
very calmly and at the sound of me stepping out onto the porch, he too stopped.
I was looking at his profile and then he turned slowly toward me
and looked straight at me just as the sun broke over the Coso mountains.
The orange glow of morning and the first rays of the sun illuminated him in that
moment. And he looked straight at me with the most intelligent and soulful
look I have ever seen in the eyes of a wild animal.

We stood locked
in this moment and I noticed how beautiful and healthy his coat was.
He was a larger version of our usual somewhat scrawny desert coyotes and there
was something just so beautiful about him as he stood there in the morning light.
I never raised the gun. I think I might even have been holding my
breath because I sensed the moment was special, and in that moment the two of
us were special too. Then the moment passed and he seemed to almost wink
at me as he turned to slowly continue his way toward the front of the property
and out the gate. I knew then I could never have shot him.

For
several mornings after that, I would watch for him. A couple of times I
caught a glimpse of him as he was on his way down the road away from the property.
Then one day, he came no more. And somehow I knew that the night
before, the volley of rifle shots we had heard from the sheepherders guns out
in the fields, had carried a bullet that forever silenced the gaze of that old
hunter who had visited me one morning and shared a moment of quiet joy in the
first rays of sunrise.

King Snake, a member of a genus of North American snakes that prey on rattlesnakes,
copperheads, and water moccasins, to whose poison they are immune. King snakes
also eat rats, mice, and other rodents, as well as frogs, toads, and lizards.
They kill by constricting (squeezing) their prey.

The common
king snake averages about three feet (90 cm) in length, but some grow to be twice
that long. It is usually black, with yellow blotches on the belly and white
or yellow bands across the back. The bands fork and join one another, forming
a chain along the sides. The milk snake is a member of the king-snake genus. There
are numerous other species.
What Makes the Kingsnake King?

A kingsnake’s diet can include turtle eggs, birds, and small mammals. But
what makes the kingsnake a king among North American snakes is that it eats
other snakes—even poisonous rattlesnakes and copperheads, How can kingsnakes do
this? They are not very affected by snake venom.

Kingsnakes
are not poisonous. So how do they kill their prey? The kingsnake wraps around its
prey and squeezes it to death.

Not all kingsnakes are alike.
They may be brown or black. They may be speckled or have colored bands, rings,
spots, or other patterns.